As you’ve probably heard by now, Republicans have a new lawmaker in the House of Representatives, and on her best day she makes your average shithouse mouse look sane. We speak, of course, of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was elected by Georgia’s 14th district and, among other things:
- Believes in QAnon, the conspiracy theory that Democrats, Hollywood, and other elites are running a Satanic pedophile cult that Donald Trump was working to shut down (through arrests and executions);
- Has variously claimed school shootings like Parkland and Sandy Hook were false flags and/or staged, and that Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton wanted school shootings to happen so they could get gun control legislation passed;
- Claimed that a deputy sheriff from Broward County, Florida, was paid off to keep quiet about the Parkland shooting being an inside job;
- Harassed David Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, screaming at him on the street that he was a “coward” who was using children to further anti-gun initiatives;
- Insisted there’s no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11;
- Blamed the California wildfires on Jewish laser beams;
- Called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed for treason.
Democrats are reasonably concerned about working alongside Greene, and particularly incensed that she was appointed to the House’s Education and Labor Committee in light of, uh, everything. But Republicans, you see, are in a tight spot. Whereas they were once the party of small government, their platform now can basically be summed up as “violent batshittery.” And so while it shouldn‘t be controversial to take a stand against Greene, apparently House Republican leadership is worried about offending people who looked at Donald Trump and said, “I like him, but do you have anyone even crazier? I’m talking delusions the likes of which this country has never seen.” Because while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy could have taken meaningful action against Greene to send a message that this is not what the Republican Party is, he instead decided to send a message that, actually, it’s exactly what the party has become. Per The Hill:
Yes, McCarthy threw into this statement that Greene’s remarks about “school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” are bad, but in refusing to actually do anything about them the subtext was clearly: This is fine. McCarthy also claimed in his statement that Greene “recognized” that “as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” which might mean something if the congresswoman hadn‘t taken to Twitter today to insist that she “owes [Democrats] no apologies” and “will never back down.”
On Thursday, the House will vote on a resolution to strip Greene of her committee assignments, and we’ll give you two guesses how Republicans are expected to vote, though you’ll probably only need one.
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